I'm Really Going to Become an Immortal
Chapter 585 - 350 Journey to the West, Reading Along the Journey to the West_2

Chapter 585: Chapter 350 Journey to the West, Reading Along the Journey to the West_2

Chen Yun wanted to read the original text of "Journey to the West."

It was precisely because of his curiosity about the concept of the "Roc."

Now, the closest creatures to the "Roc" he could think of were Garuda from Indian mythology and the Golden Winged Roc from "Journey to the West."

Moreover, one of these two was the origin of the concept of the "Roc," while the other was the most widely known personification of the "Roc."

So, on his way to India to see the statues of Garuda, he planned to read "Journey to the West" several times over.

Because he read so quickly, even with the constraint of turning pages of a physical book, he managed to read "Journey to the West" several times over while taking advantage of the flight times.

When he took a short rest at the summit of Mount Everest,

he had already flipped through to the Shituoling Chapter again.

Shituoling, also known as Shituo Mountain, Eight Hundred Miles Shituo Mountain, is one of the place names in the Ming Dynasty fantasy novel "Journey to the West."

Shituoling was occupied by three Demon Kings, the Green-Haired Lion Monster, the Yellow Toothed Old Elephant, and the Golden Winged Roc. With a force of forty-seven or eighty thousand Little Monsters, it is the largest openly numbered force of Little Monsters in the original "Journey to the West."

In an attempt to eat Tang Seng’s flesh, the three Demon Kings, led by the Roc, fearing they couldn’t manage alone, formed an alliance with the Green Lion and White Elephant to plot against Tang Seng. The battle at Shituoling encompassed four of the eighty-one tribulations: the sixtieth first tribulation: road blocked by Shituo, the sixtieth second tribulation: monsters divided into three colors, the sixtieth third tribulation: disaster strikes within the city, and the sixtieth fourth tribulation: pleading with the Buddha to capture the monsters.

All in all,

no matter how you look at it,

it’s a story about Buddism assembling the trials of the scripture-seeking journey by having its divine pets play roles in the mortal realm.

Some say this segment of the story actually satirizes society’s cruelty and frustration, as well as the abuse of power and indifference to life.

Others say that the Shituoling storyline also reveals certain issues within Buddhism itself. The relationship between the Golden Winged Roc and the Mahākāla, The Buddha’s attitude towards this also hinted at the possibility of power struggles and indifference within Buddhism. The Buddha’s choice to ignore the actions of the Golden Winged Roc also reflects the indifference of certain people in society to the weak and the abuse of power.

However, for Chen Yun, who was only there to explore the "Roc," these views didn’t matter much.

To be honest,

he was not interested in these conspiracies.

Having read the story so many times, what concerned him more was the ability that the Golden Winged Roc displayed.

Because, theoretically, if his Evolution ability was evolving him towards the ideal of "Roc," then all these exhibited abilities could potentially be acquired in some future evolution.

Although Chen Yun felt that the direction of his Evolution ability might not have previously been the same, for some reason, he now confirmed the "Roc" as his template.

But it didn’t matter which direction he evolved towards.

As long as he kept evolving, that was what mattered.

And regarding the various abilities related to the "Roc" that he had learned about so far, he was quite satisfied.

Not to mention anything else,

just the strength of flying ninety thousand li with a single flap of the wings was nearly one-seventh of the speed of light.

And this was calculated with the Roc flapping its wings only once a second.

Take the real-life Golden Eagles,

usually, the frequency of flapping their wings during normal flight is about once to twice per second. When they need to accelerate quickly or chase prey, the frequency can increase to three or four times per second. In extreme situations, such as diving to catch prey, the flapping rate can reach about five times per second.

Not to mention a Golden Winged Roc?

If he could possess such high speed, he could almost immediately touch the upper limit speed of the universe.

Although he could continuously accelerate himself using his Spiritual Position in a vacuum, it would take a long time to approach the speed of light.

It would be much more satisfying if he could start off at the speed of light.

Besides that, there was also the Yin Yang Qi Bottle.

This was a treasure of Yin and Yang Qi, containing the Seven Treasures Eight Trigrams and twenty-four qi, requiring thirty-six people, according to the Heavenly Gang Number, to lift it. This treasure could contain people; once inside, if one remained silent, the interior was extremely cool. But once someone spoke, they would feel fire burning them, and within moments, they would be reduced to sludge.

It was just questionable whether a Magic Treasure like this could be reflected in the process of evolution.

If it was Garuda from Indian Mythology,

then there would be many more divine powers.

Such as Divine Power, Heavenly Eye, Destiny Communication, Divine Hearing, Heavenly Eye, and the ability to casually grab and swallow five hundred Dragons each day.

Even Western mythology had many settings related to the concept of "Roc."

In Western books such as "Apollo’s Travels" and "One Thousand and One Nights," there were stories about Rocs, saying that Roc eggs had a circumference of fifty steps and that Rocs gathered food that consisted of large pythons capable of swallowing elephants whole; journals of Arab Travelers contained entries like, "What I thought to be a mountain was, in fact, a Roc."

The origin of Western Rocs could perhaps be traced back to the ancient Persian mythical bird Ezi (Amrzs).

The bird lived through three great calamities of the universe, hence it knew all things. With a dog’s head or a human face and outspread wings capable of covering the sun, the moon, and the stars,

In Ancient Persian mythology, there was a "tree of knowledge" that bore seeds which became all the grass and trees in the world. Ezi nested on this tree, and every time the fruits ripened, it would shake them down to spread across the mountains and rivers of the earth.

Chen Yun felt that his ability similar to cheating by reading the script, known as Super Intuition, was evolving towards the same "knowing all things" that Ezi possessed.

Or perhaps it was evolving towards becoming a Garuda with Destiny Communication, after all, Garuda’s ability to know past lives, including its own as well as others, meant knowledge of countless past destinies and actions across the Three Realms and Six Paths of all beings.

Regardless,

the concept of the "Roc" evidently possessed such abilities.

His future was bright.

There were still so many "Roc" related abilities waiting to serve as templates for imitation, to be truly exhibited by his power of Evolution.

Chen Yun even felt he could try to influence the world’s impression of the "Roc" concept, guiding the addition of similar cultural products into the fantasy of mankind.

The concept of the "Roc" too would evolve into omnipotence.

In fact, it wasn’t impossible to change the template of the evolution ability to something like that of God.

But after careful consideration,

Chen Yun felt it was better not to change too hastily.

It was preferable to earnestly develop the flourishing cultural industry of the "Roc" concept.

With these thoughts for a moment,

Chen Yun also saw the part in "Journey to the West" where the Golden Winged Roc was subdued by The Buddha.

In the original story, when The Buddha finally subdued the Golden Winged Roc,

the Roc said, "You abide by fasting and vegetarianism, living in utter poverty and hardship; I feast on human flesh, enjoying endless pleasures! If you starve me, you bear the sin."

The Buddha’s response was, "I oversee the Four Great Continents, revered by countless beings, those who do good deeds, I instruct them to sacrifice to you first."

For Chen Yun,

the words of the Golden Winged Roc were naturally easy to understand.

And The Buddha’s words were also not difficult to comprehend.

But somehow, they seemed akin to describing Zhu Bajie being conferred the title of Purification Envoy.

After all, like the Purification Envoy, one could enjoy the sacrificial offerings.

However, by comparison,

the Golden Winged Roc had the added privilege of being sacrificed to "first."

Looking at it this way, with both being able to enjoy the offerings of the Buddhist faith, Zhu Bajie seemed like the one eating the leftovers of the Golden Winged Roc.

With this thought,

Chen Yun couldn’t help but chuckle heartily.

He raised his eyes and glanced at the everlasting snowscape around him, inadvertently taking a peek at the world’s highest summit beneath.

Chen Yun then took a short break.

As he slowly closed the book,

the effects akin to a Settling technique vanished, and a small, peaceful patch on the mountaintop was once again ravaged and enveloped by the relentless wind and snow.

Along with this miraculous protective effect,

the image of Chen Yun, who had been sitting at the summit reading like a reclusive sage, disappeared as well.

...

As Chen Yun’s figure disappeared into the sky,

a climbing expedition finally overcame numerous challenges, successfully reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

They embraced each other gently, their eyes sparkling with tears. It was the tears of victors, the joy of triumphing over the extreme challenges of nature.

Though Everest is the roof of the world, climbers never cease to conquer it.

The team leader, Li Ming, had summited more than once.

As an experienced, composed and collected person, he appeared especially calm amidst his teammates’ cheers.

His gaze unconsciously swept around, but suddenly fixated on a particular spot—a relatively flat, round area, subtly distinct from the surrounding unevenness.

To be precise,

the snow within that circle seemed to be a layer thinner than the external wind-driven snow?

The difference was not significant.

Before he could take a clear look, the wind and snow had already leveled out the disparity.

Glancing at his teammates who, due to lack of oxygen and the cold among other factors, could only afford to celebrate with small gestures,

Li Ming thought no further.